SoxSpace News

Farewell Manny Ramirez by Jared Carrabis
Manny Ramirez Traded To Dodgers

I really don't know how to start this but here it goes. I didn't get the chance to post a bulletin about Manny getting traded right when it happened because I was in the Red Sox front office right when it happened. I was next to Larry Lucchino literally two minutes after the deal went down. I want to say that I'm almost in a state of shock right now. I'm obviously upset to see one of the greatest hitters to ever wear a Red Sox uniform depart from Boston. I hated to hear that he was traded and above all, I hated that it had to end the way that it did.

Given what the Red Sox had to give up to get what they got in return, it was clear to me that the Red Sox front office simply just wanted to get rid of Manny Ramirez. This team is in a pennant race and they have Manny Ramirez as a part of their lineup. To trade a player of his caliber for a player like Jason Bay, but don't get me wrong he's a great player but he is no Manny Ramirez nor will he ever be, just goes to show how badly the...READ MORE!

Published on July 31, 2008 See Comment(s)

From Duel To Disappointment by Jared Carrabis
Sox Lose A Close One To Bombers

A tough loss for the Red Sox, a tough loss for Josh Beckett, but the only loss we should be talking about is home plate umpire Marty Foster losing his job. News flash: the Red Sox and Yankees are in a pennant race. This was a 1-0 game with the game on the line. Mike Lowell put up one of the best, if not the best at bat of the entire night and he was called out on a phantom strike three, unacceptable. We as fans can accept defeat when we are beaten fair and square, but not tonight.

With Kevin Youkilis standing at first base having singled off of Mariano Rivera in search of a five-out save, Mike Lowell put up a battle against the Yankee closer in an eight-pitch at bat. Fouling off pitch after pitch, Mike Lowell dug in for the eighth pitch of the at bat. Rivera’s eighth pitch to Lowell was a 94 MPH fastball a whole six inches off the plate on the inside corner coming close to skimming the jersey of Mike Lowell. Home plate umpire Marty Foster rung up Lowell as the infuriated third ba...READ MORE!

Published on July 26, 2008 See Comment(s)

Bring On The Bombers by Jared Carrabis
Ortiz To Return On Friday

The Sox are now just coming off a much needed but also much expected sweep of the Seattle Mariners. The three wins that the Sox picked up in Seattle were all crucial wins with the race in the AL East starting to pick up with both the Yankees and Rays on hot streaks. The Red Sox split even at 3-3 on their road trip to start the unofficial second half of the season with a pair of sweeps, the first just not in their favor.

Daisuke Matsuzaka continued to pitch very well for the Red Sox improving to 11-1 with opponents hitting just .202 against him in seventeen starts. His strikeout totals are finally on the rise as the Japan native pitcher has whiffed 50 batters in his last ten starts. Surely Matsuzaka's season has opened the eyes of every Cy Young award voter.

Jon Lester went the second game of the series and continued to be the most consistent pitcher on the staff along with being the most reliable. Pitching in front of his home state of Washington, Lester excelled for 7.1 inni...READ MORE!

Published on July 24, 2008 See Comment(s)

Baltimore Beat Down by Jared Carrabis
Sox Bash The Birds

Congratulations Radhames Liz, that was the worst outing by a starting pitcher I think I have perhaps ever seen in my baseball-viewing career. After the first few pitches thrown, it didn’t take a professional baseball analyst to determine that Liz was not a “pitcher” he was a “thrower”. He is one of those guys that just rears back and gasses the ball as hard as he can and has absolutely not idea where it’s going. Well Radhames, I’ve got some news for you, that may work with other teams but it’s not going to fly with the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox lineup features some of the most patient hitters in the league from leadoff all the way down to the nine slot.

Radhames Liz lasted a mere two and one thirds innings and was just plain awful. His game plan was to just toe the rubber and throw the ball as hard as he could lighting up the gun multiple times in the 98-mile an hour range. The only problem was that these 98 mile an hour fastballs were going either nowhere near the strike zone ...READ MORE!

Published on July 12, 2008 See Comment(s)

Too Little, Too Late by Jared Carrabis
Sox Grab A Run In Ninth But Not Enough To Top Yanks

Bases loaded, two outs, down by one, one of the greatest closers to ever wear a baseball uniform on the mound, game on the line, who do you want up at bat? There’s a good chance you didn’t say “Julio Lugo”. Well that was the situation in the top of the ninth inning at the very end of Saturday’s dramatic match up between the Red Sox and the Yankees. The scapegoat in this one should not be labeled as Julio Lugo just because he struck out to end the game. The simple fact is that it never should have came down to a bases loaded situation with the game on the line. Mike Mussina is a great pitcher, there is no getting around that statement, but he is very “far along” we’ll say in his potential Hall of Fame career to the point where he is very hittable.

Those of you that want to debate whether he is a Hall of Fame pitcher or not, I will throw my two cents in. It’s very possible that he could be with a total of 261 career wins but he has never won 20 games in a season. He won 19 games in...READ MORE!

Published on July 06, 2008 See Comment(s)

Bronx Bombing by Jared Carrabis
Lester Blanks Yanks

What ever happened to “Thank God we’re playing a series against Tampa Bay” or “Oh no, not a trip to the Bronx”? With the Red Sox coming off a series in which they were swept by the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, and heading into a series against the sub par New York Yankees, things were a little twisted in Red Sox Nation. Classify Thursday night’s game as the reviving game of the 2008 season for the Red Sox.

With Boston being losers of five straight games in the Yankees coming off a game in which they plated a grand total of eighteen runs, being able to shutout the Bronx Bombers was a win in it’s own aside from the win added to the win column. There had been too much talk in the media outside of Boston about the Rays this past week that all of a sudden people seemed to have forgotten how good the Red Sox really are. If you caught even two seconds of Sports Center you would have thought that the Rays had already clinched the division just bec...READ MORE!

Published on July 04, 2008 See Comment(s)

Cowbell Up by Jared Carrabis
Sox Lose Fifth Straight, Head To The Bronx

What a mess. You could not have scripted a scenario more awful going into the start of this series. The Red Sox are now losers of their last five straight games and have dropped a whole three and a half games out of first place. Their largest margin out of first place since 2006. We could sit here and play the blame game and point fingers at the bullpen for imploding by giving up six runs in the seventh inning or blame Jason Varitek for being 3 for his last 48 (.063), but the simple fact is that baseball is a team orientated game. Games are not won and lost by just one player.

Our main concern right now should be the fact that the Red Sox are heading to Yankee Stadium for a four game series and the red hot Rays are taking on the Royals who have lost their last two games. If the Red Sox don’t wake up and start playing some serious baseball in the Bronx, this division race could get out of hand all sorts of fast.

You have to give credit where credit is due. The Rays just simp...READ MORE!

Published on July 03, 2008 See Comment(s)

Rays, Rays, Go Away by Jared Carrabis
Rays Not To Be Taken Lightly

So the buzz around the Nation today is not what you would have expected. Any other season prior to this one, Red Sox fans would have been talking about this four game series at Yankee Stadium even before the series with the Rays. Now here in 2008, the buzz was all about the Rays before, during and now even after the series is over all we can talk about is the Rays.

Well what did you expect from a team that got the first selection in the draft on several occasions after finishing dead last. Sooner or later their young talent was going to emerge, that was no surprise. The surprise is that they hold the best record in baseball. We all knew their young talent would be able to come together and contend, but dominate? Who saw that coming? Not only do they have the best record in baseball but they are an astonishing 33-13 at home.

What ESPN and the rest of the media outside of Boston fail to recognize is that the Red Sox have also swept the Rays twice. Everyone is just too caught up...READ MORE!

Published on July 03, 2008 See Comment(s)

Ray-diculous by Jared Carrabis
A+ Effort From Wake Still Not Enough

The Tampa Bay Rays have never in their franchise history entered the month of July in first place. As a matter of fact, they have never entered the month of July behind by single digits in terms of games back. Here in 2008, we have seen first hand what having the first round pick every single year can do for a team. The Rays have taken the first two games of this three game series at the Trop and are looking to sweep the Red Sox for the second time this season. The Red Sox now look at the American League East division standings and see that they are now down by 2.5 games, their largest distance in the wrong direction away from first place since April 9.

The Red Sox just can’t seem to catch a break. When they get pitching, they can’t get offense, when they get offense, they can’t get pitching. Losers of their last four straight, the Red Sox have seen their lead in the AL East diminish and then some. The Red Sox were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday night and lef...READ MORE!

Published on July 01, 2008 See Comment(s)